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Origin and history of cod-piece

cod-piece(n.)

also codpiece, mid-15c., in male costume c. 1450-1550, a bagged appendage to the front of close-fitting breeches, "often conspicuous and ornamented" [OED], from Old English codd "a bag, pouch, husk," in Middle English, "testicles" (cognate with Old Norse koddi "pillow; scrotum") + piece (n.1).

also from mid-15c.

Entries linking to cod-piece

piece(n.1)

c. 1200, pece, "fixed amount, measure, portion;" c. 1300, "fragment of an object, bit of a whole, slice of meat; separate fragment, section, or part," from Old French piece "piece, bit portion; item; coin" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *pettia, probably from Gaulish *pettsi (compare Welsh peth "thing," Breton pez "piece, a little"), perhaps from an Old Celtic base *kwezd-i-, from PIE root *kwezd- "a part, piece" (source also of Russian chast' "part"). Related: Pieces.

Meaning "separate article forming part of a class or group" is from c. 1400; that of "specimen, instance, example" is from 1560s. Sense of "portable firearm" is from 1580s, earlier "artillery weapon" (1540s). The meaning "chessman" is from 1560s. Meaning "a period of time" is from early 14c.; that of "a portion of a distance" is from 1610s; that of "literary composition" dates from 1530s.

Piece of (one's) mind "one's opinion expressed bluntly" is from 1570s. Piece of work "remarkable person" echoes Hamlet. Piece as "a coin" is attested in English from c. 1400, hence piece of eight, old name for the Spanish dollar (c. 1600) of the value of 8 reals and bearing a numeral 8. Adverbial phrase in one piece "whole, undivided, without loss or injury" is by 1580s; of a piece "as of the same piece or whole" is from 1610s.

cod(n.)

large sea fish, edible and widely distributed in colder seas, mid-14c. (late 13c. in a surname, Thomas cotfich), of unknown origin; despite similarity of form it has no conclusive connection to the widespread Germanic word for "bag" (represented by Old English codd, preserved in cod-piece). Codfish is from 1560s. Cod-liver oil, known at least since 1610s, was recommended medicinally from 1783 but did not become popular as a remedy until after 1825.

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    scrod
    1841, "a young cod, split and fried or boiled," a New England word of uncertain origin, possibly from Dutch schrood "piece...cut off," from Middle Dutch scrode "shred" (cognate with Old English screade "piece cut off;" see shred (n.))....
    catfish
    The film takes its title from an anecdote of fishermen putting a catfish in the tank with a shipment of live cod to keep...the cod active in transit and tastier at the table....
    pod
    of legumes, seed grain" (mid-15c.), which had a parallel form codware "husked or seeded plants" (late 14c.), related to cod...
    pane
    garment, cloak, mantle; a part of a garment;" later "side of a building, section of a wall," from Old French pan "section, piece...- "fabric" (source also of Gothic fana "piece of cloth," Greek pēnos "web," Old English fanna "flag")....The general notion in the word is "distinct part or piece of a surface."...Sense of "piece of glass inserted in a window" is attested by mid-15c....
    kerchief
    "square piece of fabric folded and worn about the head," early 13c., kovrechief "piece of cloth used to cover part of the...From late 14c. as "piece of cloth used about the person" generally, for purposes other than covering the head; and from c.... 1400 as "piece of cloth carried in the hand" to wipe the face, etc....
    shard
    also sherd, "piece or fragment," especially "piece of baked clay, piece of broken pottery or tile," from Old English sceard..."incision, cleft, gap; potshard, a fragment, broken piece," from Proto-Germanic *skardaz (source also of Middle Dutch schaerde...
    bit
    "small piece," c. 1200; related Old English bite "act of biting," and bita "piece bitten off," which probably are the source...of the modern words meaning "boring-piece of a drill" (the "biting" part, 1590s), "mouthpiece of a horse's bridle" (mid-...14c.), and "a piece (of food) bitten off, morsel" (c. 1000)....The meaning "small piece, fragment" of anything is from c. 1600. The sense of "short space of time" is 1650s....
    persevere
    "to persist in what one has undertaken, to pursue steadily a design or course," late 14c., perseveren, from Old French perseverer "continue, persevere, endure" and directly from Latin perseverare "continue steadfastly, persist," from persevereus "very strict, earnest," from per "
    ginger
    11c., from Old English ginȝifer, ginȝiber, from Late Latin gingiber, from Latin zingiberi, from Greek zingiberis, from Prakrit (Middle Indic) singabera, from Sanskrit srngaveram, from srngam "horn" + vera- "body," so called from the shape of its root. But this may be Sanskrit fol
    Whig
    British political party, 1657, in part perhaps a disparaging use of whigg "a country bumpkin" (1640s); but mainly a shortened form of Whiggamore (1649) "one of the adherents of the Presbyterian cause in western Scotland who marched on Edinburgh in 1648 to oppose Charles I." Perha

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